ELECTRON R/B

ELECTRON R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2026-09-11 from RLLC. As a relatively recent addition to the catalogue, its orbital elements are well-characterised. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 193 km and 492 km with an inclination of 36.1°. It travels at approximately 27,739 km/h (7.71 km/s), completing one full orbit every 91 minutes — that’s roughly 15.76 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is months to ~1 year. Spent rocket bodies like ELECTRON R/B are among the largest pieces of uncontrolled space debris and are priority targets for collision avoidance manoeuvres and future active debris removal efforts.

ELECTRON R/B orbits at an average altitude of 343 km in the lower reaches of Low Earth Orbit, where atmospheric drag is significant and orbital lifetimes are measured in months to a few years. This is the busiest corridor in space — home to crewed spacecraft, rapid-revisit imaging satellites and the densest part of the Starlink constellation. Within ±50 km of ELECTRON R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 1,221 active payloads and 38 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1008, STARLINK-1012, STARLINK-1020. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 6.7% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 36.1°, ELECTRON R/B passes over latitudes between 36.1°N and 36.1°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. United States operates approximately 12,945 active satellites in total, of which 1,144 share a similar altitude band with ELECTRON R/B.